Life Line (episode)
The Doctor is sent to the Alpha Quadrant to cure the dying creator of his program, Lewis Zimmerman, but the holography engineer wants no part of him. Summary Teaser Jupiter Station, Sol System, the Alpha Quadrant. A shuttle approaches, bearing Lieutenant Reginald Barclay. He hails the station and requests permission to dock and board, which is granted. The station is the home and workplace of Dr. Lewis Zimmerman. The crotchety genius and holography engineer extraordinaire best known for the creation of the Emergency Medical Hologram, of which [[The Doctor|''Voyager's Doctor]] is one, grumpily allows Barclay in to see him. They speak about Barclay’s work on the Pathfinder Project ( ). Then Barclay changes the subject to Zimmerman’s medical condition. Zimmerman snorts angrily at this. "''Doctors!" he spits. "I've been scanned and probed a hundred times and they still can't tell me what's wrong." Barclay ventures that it is only a matter of time until they do, but Zimmerman has none of it. His next words remind Barclay that time is a luxury he cannot afford. His condition is fatal. He is dying. Act One Via the MIDAS Array, Starfleet transmits a compressed data stream across the 30,000 light year distance to ''Voyager''. It is received in the ship's Astrometrics laboratory by Seven of Nine. The head of the ship's astrometrics department, she can be usually found here, working. She quickly analyzes the data and informs Captain Janeway. Janeway calls a meeting of the senior staff and explains what the data is and how it is transmitted: every 32 days, Starfleet transmits a short burst of data to them via the MIDAS array, utilizing a cyclic pulsar to amplify the signal across the distance. The data is usually correspondence from crew-members' families and news of the Alpha Quadrant. But they only have 17 hours to respond before the pulsar's strength drops below sending range, until the following month. She orders that the crew be informed and individual messages distributed, so that replies can be composed in time. As before, Neelix, ship's morale officer, is charged with distributing individual messages ( ). This time, he also has one for The Doctor. He goes to the Sickbay and gives the hologram the PADD containing it. It shocks and greatly saddens The Doctor: it is news about Dr. Zimmerman's terminal illness, from Lt. Barclay. Neelix informs him gently of the time the Captain needs his response by, if he wants to send one. He intends to send more than just a reply; he believes, using his unique medical experiences dealing with conditions Starfleet Medical has never encountered, borne from his time here in the Delta Quadrant, that he can find a cure. He immediately gets to work. He has Seven of Nine bring him data on Borg regeneration techniques, which he believes hold the answer. Between Seven and the ship’s repeated multiple encounters with the Borg to date, he has greater access to such information than any other Federation medical doctor, holographic or otherwise ( et. al). His efforts are successful. But instead of simply sending the data, he now has something else in mind. He goes to see Janeway in her ready room and makes the request: to be transmitted himself to the Alpha Quadrant, to administer the treatment personally. Janeway is very loathe to acquiesce; he may be destroyed in the transmission, and they cannot afford losing their Chief Medical Officer. And he is, in terms of data size, very large; there will be no space in the stream for anything else if they send him. He pleads with her, responding that Zimmerman, his creator, is akin to his father. He realizes he is asking the crew to make a sacrifice on his behalf, but they can afford to wait another month; Zimmerman may not have that time. His arguments win her over, and, with a smile, she grants him permission. Act Two He is made ready for his trip. Seven of Nine reduces him in size data-wise, removing some of the subroutines that are not essential to his mission, so that he can fit in the data stream. Then, in the Astrometrics lab, with Janeway and Ensign Kim, ship's Operations Manager, there to see him off, Seven downloads and transmits him. He arrives successfully. On Jupiter Station, a very excited but nervous Lt. Barclay rushes with a portable data device to Zimmerman's laboratory. Zimmerman’s assistant, a holographic Human woman named Haley, warns him that he is in a particularly cranky mood, but Barlay insists on seeing him. Zimmerman allows him in. Barclay enters and, before an annoyed Zimmerman, activates The Doctor. He is without his mobile emitter, but is being projected using the installed emitters Zimmerman has throughout his lab, for use by Haley as well as any other holograms Zimmerman creates. Zimmerman is far from enthused. "An EMH Mark One? I'm not in the mood for nostalgia, Reginald," he grouses. Disappointed by his reaction, Barclay informs him exactly what EMH Mark One he is looking at. This elicits only a sarcastic dismissal of The Doctor from a still unenthusiastic Zimmerman. But when The Doctor informs Zimmerman of the reason for his visit, Zimmerman's sarcasm begins to boil over into anger. "You brought a Mark One 30,000 light years to ''treat me?" he asks Barclay with a baleful glare. "''I was wrong about you, Reginald; you ''do have a sense of humor." He curtly turns his back on both of them. The Doctor does not appreciate this; he was expecting a vastly different reception from his creator. He asks Barclay what the joke is, in regard to Zimmerman's comment. Zimmerman's sarcasm disappears entirely, leaving only anger. He gives The Doctor a total shocking surprise, one that shatters his previously-held assumption that Mark Ones like him were performing a great medical function. The EMH Mark One program, Zimmerman shouts at him, was reconfigured to "''scrub plasma conduits on waste transfer barges!" Basically, they are now being used as the equivalent of 20th century garbage workers. The Doctor is horrified. But this does not stop him in trying to carry out the reason for which he risked himself coming here. He tries to scan Zimmerman with a medical tricorder, but Zimmerman refuses to let him do so. However, his persistence makes Zimmerman see that he is going to have to acquiesce in order to be left alone, so Zimmerman finally relents, stands still and allows it. A very mollified Barclay leaves to wait outside. It does not last, however. The Doctor, annoyed by a holographic iguana Zimmerman has there for company, has the computer deactivate it. Furious at this, Zimmerman ceases his cooperation and shouts at him to leave. The Doctor refuses, defiantly retorting that he is no longer under Zimmerman's control, to which Zimmerman sharply orders the computer to transfer The Doctor to the living quarters. The flustered hologram finds himself suddenly relocated outside the lab, a concerned Barclay and Haley looking at him in surprise. Act Three The next day, Haley and Barclay are sitting in the living quarters, talking about the situation. A furious Doctor storms in, demanding that the MIDAS array be powered up to send him back to Voyager at once. Zimmerman, he fumes, reconfigured his tricorder. He spent an hour analyzing the confusing readings before discovering this. Barclay calms him down, reminding him that he cannot be sent back until the following month. This does nothing to alter The Doctor's ire, however. He angrily voices his opinion of Zimmerman: "He's deranged! What he needs is a counselor!" This gives Barclay an idea. Later, alone, he executes that idea; he contacts the and speaks to Commander Deanna Troi, the ship's counselor. He asks her to come to Jupiter Station and mediate between The Doctor and Zimmerman. At first, she is reticent, responding that the Enterprise is on an important mission; she is over seven light years away. Could she not refer him to another counselor? She suggests one Counselor Jenzo, who is on Earth, much closer. But Barclay pleads; this situation needs the best: her. She is visibly pleased by his utter confidence in her, and agrees to come, provided her commanding officer, Captain Picard, gives her leave to do so. Later on, Haley, having prepared Zimmerman's lunch, calls and informs him. His response over the comm is pleasured groaning, then an acknowledgment of her message. He is seen being massaged by a most exotic-looking Tarlac woman. Lying on his ventral side, he complains to her about The Doctor's harrassing him. He does not see her pull out a medical tricorder and begin to scan him. That is, until he turns his head to one side and catches her in the act. Shocked, he gets up and demands of her an explanation. Suddenly, epiphany hits him. He orders the computer to "realign ''Voyager's EMH''". The Tarlac woman is replaced by an embarrassed-looking Doctor. Zimmerman becomes livid. His face contorted with rage, he threatens to report The Doctor to the medical ethics board. "Why won’t you leave me alone?!" he screams. The Doctor sternly tries to get him to see that he is only trying to help, but ZimmeRman has none of it. Just then, Haley calls, informing Zimmerman he has a visitor. The visitor enters. It is Commander Troi. Act Four Troi introduces herself, though both know who she is. She immediately gets to work, trying to engage them and bring about a spirit of détente. The Doctor is appreciative, but Zimmerman is surly and obstinate. She first tries to get The Doctor to see Zimmerman's point of view on the situation: to Zimmerman's mind, The Doctor is obsolete. Therefore, Zimmerman has difficulty putting confidence in him. The Doctor understands this. She then asks Zimmerman to understand The Doctor's position; if the situation were reversed, The Doctor would not want him working on him either, considering him obsolete. Zimmermanpretends to go along with her. But then he breaks the pretense with a snide remark that The Doctor, being an EMH Mark One, can start purging the plasma conduits on Deck Six. This arouses The Doctor's ire once again and they begin to bicker, until Troi loses her cool, and, in a most unprofessional manner, calls the both jerks and storms out. Later, in the living quarters, Troi glumly tells Barclay that perhaps she should not have come; things are now worse than before; Zimmerman and The Doctor now refuse to be in the same room with each other. Haley brings Troi's principal vice: chocolate ice-cream. Troi is very appreciative. Her empathic powers, not sensing any emotions from her, reveal Haley's holographic state. She asks Haley when she was first brought on line, and Haley tells her. This makes her think: she is older than the Mark One. Why does Zimmmerman pay her heed, but refuse to do so with The Doctor? She asks Haley this. After a bit of coaxing, as this is not something Zimmerman wants publicly known, Haley explains: the Mark One was Zimmerman's most prized work. He had dreamed about holograms in every corner of the Milky Way, rendering critical medical care, saving lives in situations where flesh-and-blood doctors could not go. He was so proud of the Mark One he modeled its physical appearance after him. But Starfleet was unimpressed, ordering the Mark One reconfigured as plasma conduit cleaners. Zimmerman was devastated. He tried for years to repair the defects, until he gave up and started again from scratch, first creating the Mark Two, then Three, then Four. None of these newer models looked like him; he made that mistake once and was not about to do it again. And now, Troi concludes, after all these years, a Mark One appears, a reminder of his failure and shame, like staring in the mirror at a reflection one never wants to see again. She now understands exactly what the root cause of Zimmerman's attitude toward The Doctor is. Now she know where she has to work from. Savoring her ice-cream, she considers her next steps. Alone in his lab, with the lights low, a quiet, frightened but resigned Zimmerman dictates to the computer his last will and testament. With nobody else present, he lets some of his hidden feelings show, evincing deep care about those few people who are close to him, such as Haley and Barclay. Then pain due to his condition seizes him with red-hot talons. He sits in his chair, gasping. Meanwhile, The Doctor is in the station's holodeck, which Barclay has programmed to be a facsimile of Voyager's sickbay. Commander Troi enters and speaks to him about having dinner with her, Barclay, Haley... and Zimmerman. Initially, he is interested, but at the mention of the last, he flatly refuses. Then he begins to fritz. Urgently, Troi calls Barclay and informs him. Barclay immediately transfers him to the living quarters, where he is already running diagnostics on him. His news horrifies The Doctor: he is degrading, destabilizing. Soon, he will be destroyed completely. There is nothing Barclay can do. Act Five Soon after, Barclay, Haley, and Troi are in Zimmerman's lab, with Zimmerman. Haley busies herself cleaning while Troi and Barclay speak to Zimmerman about The Doctor's deterioration. Zimmerman could not care less: "Good riddance to bad photons," is his response. The officers plead with him: he is dying; Voyager cannot do without him. He irritatedly responds that he will send them a Mark Four as a replacement. They don't want a Mark Four, Barclay presses. They want their friend. This irritates Zimmerman even more. "No E.M.H. was ever designed to be anyone's friend! He's just a hologram!" he shouts. A very poor choice of words. Haley immediately whirls on him, hurt in her voice. "Is that how you feel about me? Just a hologram?" Mortified, Zimmerman can only mutter that he will not be ambushed in his own lab. Haley takes over from Troi and Barclay. She reminds him of the time when he was on Vulcan to give a lecture and received a message that she was destabilizing. He immediately canceled the lecture and returned to Jupiter Station to repair her. Her voice is tinged with emotion as she says this. Zimmerman, never comfortable with his soft side exposed for others to see, tries to respond that he was merely looking for an excuse to escape delivering the lecture. But there is no conviction at all behind his words. "You came back because you cared about me," Haley presses. "Just like you care about the Mark One; you just won't admit it." Leaning in close, she brings up the forbidden subject. "He may not be perfect", she continues, "but he is one of your creations, and right now, he needs his creator. Don't turn your back on him," she pleads. Zimmerman looks around at all of them, the resistance leached out of him. He quietly relents. Later, eating Haley's salad, alone in the lab, he begins. He has the computer activate The Doctor. He informs The Doctor of his intention to repair him and begins working at a terminal. It is said that Doctors make the worst patients, and The Doctor is no exception. He frantically pesters Zimmerman with questions about what action he is is taking and why he is taking it. Finally, Zimmerman shuts him off. 17 hours later, he activates him again. He proudly informs him that he has succeeded. But The Doctor finds that he cannot move. When asked why, Zimmerman excitedly informs him that not only has he repaired him, he has made some "improvements" on him. These improvements are those that he always had wanted to do on the Mark One, but never got the chance. They include changing his on-activation greeting to something more friendly, as well as new subroutines for compassion, patience, empathy and decorum. Zimmerman is extremely pleased. He comments, much to The Doctor's pleasure, that he has exceeded his programming and accomplished much more than he would have predicted. But, he adds, he never overcame his initial defects as a Mark One. Now, he has a chance to. The Doctor is not pleased, however. He likes himself the way he is. Zimmerman cannot understand this. "I'm doing you a favor!" he replies to The Doctor's objections. The Doctor is hurt; yes, he wants Zimmerman's approval, but he also wants his acceptance of him as he is, as what he made himself to be. "I don't want any favors! And I don't want your new subroutines! Why can't you accept me as I am?!" he asks. "Because you're defective!" Zimmerman shouts. The years of shame and disappointment about the Mark Ones suddenly come out. Stalking around the lab, he vents his feelings to The Doctor; about the perjorative acronyms Starfleet gave the EMH Mark Ones, such as "Emergency Medical Hotheads" and "Extremely Marginal House-calls"; about how he tried to have them decommissioned, only to have to watch Starfleet reassign them all to work waste-transfer barges. He sinks onto a couch. And his next words reveal the full extent of his devastation over how the project turned out; feelings which are exactly those deduced by Troi on hearing the story of the Mark One from Haley; feelings of extreme shame and embarrassment, which he is always reminded of. It comes out in one single sentence: "Do you know how humiliating it is to have 675 Mark Ones out there, scrubbing plasma conduits... all with my face?" Now The Doctor understands. He gently tells him that he is still doing what he was made for, and is quite good at it. This is why he is here; to do that job for him, that he may be proud of him. This is of comfort, Zimmerman admits; that "at least one of you is still doing what I designed you to do." The Doctor parlays that admission into a gentle request to let Zimmerman treat him. Zimmerman considers and, to The Doctor's great joy, finally agrees. 32 hours later, The Doctor emerges from the lab to happily inform Barclay, Haley and Troi that the procedure was successful; he is certain Zimmerman will recover. However, he has a few questions regarding his earlier degradation; apparently, it had been started intentionally. He rounds on Barclay and pointedly calls for an explanation. Troi and Barclay sheepishly confess; they set it up to break down Zimmerman's resistance. The Doctor smiles, not holding it against them. One month later, The Doctor is in Zimmerman's lab , snapping holo-images. Zimmerman walks in. The Doctor insists he go back to bed. Zimmerman sighs in annoyance. He voices hope that The Doctor will not be returning next month to ensure he is taking his medicind. The Doctor assures him with a smile that Janeway would not allow it. Zimmerman then, still trying not to let his soft side show, offhandedly remarks that The Doctor may want to drop him a line next time Voyager sends a data stream, to let him know how he is doing. The Doctor happily agrees. Barclay enters. The MIDAS Array is ready to send The Doctor back. But before leaving, he has Barclay take a photo of him and Zimmerman. The photo is seen; the two standing side by side, The Doctor's arm over Zimmerman’s shoulder, he with a happy smile and Zimmerman with the look of a proud father trying not to let too much of his soft side show, but the pride is clearly visible. Memorable Quotes "Can't it wait until I'm dead?" : - Doctor Zimmerman "Just being thorough." : - Leonard the iguana "Computer, deactivate iguana." : - The Doctor "I'm a doctor, not a zoo-keeper." : - The Doctor "A smattering of photons; that's all he is!" : - Doctor Zimmerman, speaking about the Doctor "I found a friend waiting for me at home." "You don't ''have any friends." : - '''Reg Barclay' and Doctor Zimmerman "Enough questions! Finish your scans and get out of here!" "Doctor–" "I said get out of here!" "I traveled halfway across the galaxy to treat you. The least you could do is show a little gratitude!" "Thank you. GET OUT OF HERE!" : - Doctor Zimmerman and The Doctor (Furious) "YOU!" "Remain calm. Emotional outbursts will only aggravate your condition." (Furious) "I'll tell you what's aggravating my condition: YOU!" : - Doctor Zimmerman and The Doctor "The ''Enterprise is in the middle of a mission..."'' "An important mission?" "They're all important, Reg." : - Deanna Troi and Reginald Barclay "Oh, spare us your psychobabble!" "I came here thinking that you were opposite sides of the same coin; identical, but different. Now I see you're both exactly the same. You're both jerks!" "Jerks." : - Doctor Zimmerman, Deanna Troi, and Leonard the iguana (Quietly, depressed) "Do you know how humiliating it is to have 675 Mark Ones out there, scrubbing plasma conduits... all with my face?" : - Doctor Zimmerman "Please state the nature of the medical emergency." "You are the emergency." : - The Doctor and Doctor Zimmerman, after the Doctor's activation "I can assure you I'm quite real." "Oh, well, the last beautiful woman to walk in here turned out to be him." "I'll take that as a compliment." :Deanna Troi, Doctor Zimmerman and The Doctor "So this is ''Voyager. I like it." "''It's a remarkable facsimile. But Mr. Barclay did get a few of the details wrong. For one thing, Neelix doesn't purr." "I think that may have something to do with Reg's cat. He named it after your friend." "Neelix would be honored." : - Deanna Troi and The Doctor "Is that a fractal algorithm?" "''Very good! I'm using it to realign your matrix." "Fractal algorithms are notoriously unstable!" "In the hands of a novice... whoops." "Whoops?! What's 'whoops?'" "Computer, deactivate EMH." : - Doctor Zimmerman and The Doctor, while Zimmerman was repairing The Doctor "You're arrogant! Irritable! A jerk, as Counselor Troi would say." "I believe she was describing you as well." "Don't change the subject." : - Doctor Zimmerman and The Doctor, arguing about The Doctor's personality subroutines. "What were your symptoms?" (Sarcastically) "Radical hair loss." : - Doctor Zimmerman and The Doctor Background Information * Lewis Zimmerman, previously appearing in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode , and Star Trek: Voyager episodes and , makes his final Star Trek appearance (although, strictly speaking, he has only appeared in this episode and ; the other two occasions were holographic versions of himself). * Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi), Robert Picardo (the Doctor), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Dwight Schultz (Lt. Reginald Barclay) and Jack Shearer (Admiral Hayes) all previously appeared in together. * This episode takes place over the course of a little more than 32 days. * The EMH disguises himself as a female member of the Tarlac species from in order to examine Dr. Zimmerman. * This episode is the first time a piece of the is seen on a Star Trek television show, in this case, Counselor Troi's quarters or office. * Though The Doctor is already aware of a newer EMH Mark II program from his time on board the , he is surprised to learn that Starfleet has gone so far as to retire all EMH Mark Is from medical duty, judging them "obsolete", as Zimmerman puts it. * This episode remains the only Star Trek episode written by a castmember, as it was written by Robert Picardo, who played Voyager's EMH. * Dr. Zimmerman comments that he hasn't left Jupiter Station in "over four years", however he had visited Deep Space 9 to interview Julian Bashir for the Long-term Medical Hologram between Stardates 50564 and 50712. This was approximately three years earlier from The Doctor's visit. Video and DVD releases *UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 6.12, . :The video sleeve gives this episode's name as "Lifeline". *As part of the VOY Season 6 DVD collection. Awards *This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series. Links and references Special Guest Star *Dwight Schultz as "Barclay" Guest Stars *Tamara Craig Thomas as Haley *Jack Shearer as Hayes Special Guest Appearance By *Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi Co-Star * Majel Barrett as Computer Voice Uncredited Co-Stars * Robert Picardo as Lewis Zimmerman * Unknown actress as Jupiter Station control (voice) References agoraphobia; Bolian; Dawkins; Daystrom Prize for Holography; Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH); ''Enterprise'', USS (NCC-1701-E); Federation attack fighter; field medic; hair loss; hologram; iguana; Jem'Hadar battle cruiser; Jenzo; Jupiter Station; Jupiter Station Holoprogramming Center; Leonard; Maquis; MIDAS array; Pathfinder Project; phage; Picard, Jean-Luc; plasma conduit; pork chop; pulsar; Roy; salad; Starfleet Intelligence; Starfleet Medical; Tarlac; theta radiation; Trojan Horse Project; Vulcan; Woman in Four Dimensions; Zimmerman, Lewis |next= }} Category:VOY episodes de:Rettungsanker fr:Life Line nl:Life Line